


(Dys)Functional

by TheAmuzing



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Drabble, Gen, POV Minor Character, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2588531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmuzing/pseuds/TheAmuzing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jack says what he REALLY feels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Dys)Functional

Jack hates himself.

Look at that statement for a second. Break it down: Jack. Hates. Himself.

Pretty bleak, huh? But given what you've heard, what you've seen, are you really surprised?

Jack's got a reputation, and not necessarily the one he's looking for. He's going to stand on top of the world and everyone will kneel the way he sells it. But no one buys it. They buy his immediate utility, his versatility as a tool, and toss him away as soon as or even before he stops working the way they want him to.

The only times they don't is when he gets it done first. You can see the problem coming there a mile away. So can he. He ignores what he sees, because it's easier to play along, isn't it?

Jack's got ambition, but he's got no direction. Everything is concretes building to abstracts for this guy--completely backwards. He starts with product and breaks it down into project and profit fluxes every-which-way but mostly down. On one hand, that's what informs his genius. On the other it's why nothing gets done.

Maybe he'd do better with some pointing, but we've already covered why Jack and people don't get on so well. At least not the people he looks for.

That's another thing--Jack's got an awful taste in people. Partners? A gaggle of B-list bads, a parasitic legume who barely merits mention, a relic with more teeth than handle, more proverb than progress, and a bad working attitude besides, and a backstabbing witch who somehow works better than all of the above when she isn't being, you know, a backstabbing witch.

And bots who he keeps breaking. Don't forget them. He doesn't.

Jack hates himself because Jack doesn't know how to quit with dignity. He's too stubborn to accept a world that doesn't want him--he keeps forcing himself into spaces, pushing and nudging and ingratiating through the door even though he's got more bruise than toes and there's splinters in his fingers clawing right back against the grip and his smile is wincing from the pressure of jamb on his elbow. He keeps cackling through the pain, disrupting air to prove he exists, and then screaming when others decide to show they notice by beating him black yellow red.

As if anything else could happen.

Nothing else could happen, because all that suffering has to be worth something before he can even think of giving up, but where can he find any give in a place like this where even the good guys get their kicks by kicking him down to the dirt?

I hate Jack because he refuses to hate himself, so he built me to do it for him. Because the way I hate him? He can work with. It's a reflection, a reference, a working point to direct from. I'm the self awareness he can't afford to keep inside, because flesh is so much easier to hurt by hating than metal. I'm stronger, I think faster, and I know him enough to tell him what we hate.

He takes what I tell him and makes himself better, and makes me better in the process so I can keep hating us forward.

I hate him because I know him.

I love him because he needs me.

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise RoboJack!
> 
> Or at least it would be a surprise if I didn't have to list characters. C'est la vie.
> 
> Anywhom, this was drafted up real quick before a class to explore (Robo) Jack's voice in contrast with how I write Jack. And to some extent explore how (Robo) Jack rationalizes his purpose beyond being a mere "traitorous robot double." 
> 
> His attitudes do not necessarily how Jack actively sees himself, especially as Jack grows and develops in an organic fashion most likely different from what RJ experiences--but it's interesting what you think you are able to see when you're one step removed and looking back.


End file.
